Xuan Thuy Investment and Development JSC, based in the northern province of Ninh Binh, Tuesday worked with the representative of the sponsorship-withdrawn Navibank Saigon football club to negotiate to acquire the club. Xuan Thuy Co is expected to earmark some VND21 billion, roughly US$1 million, to buy 25 players and the coaching panel of Navibank Saigon. The players include stars such as national player Quang Hai, captain Tai Em, midfielder Duoc Em, and defenders Viet Cuong and Long Giang. As the company has a relationship with Nguyen Duc Thuy, chairman of the Saigon Xuan Thanh (SGXT) football club, the above five players will be transferred to SGXT in the 2013 season. The remaining players will wait until the transfer is completed, after which Navibank Saigon will be renamed, and continue to play at the V-League. SGXT managing director-cum-head coach Tran Tien Dai confirmed that they will buy the five stars from Navibank Saigon. He said the club will also invest more on buying domestic players of high quality. “We are tightening our belt in the next season, and will no longer use foreign Vietnamese naturalized players as they demand too high salaries,” he said. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, however, has yet to be informed of the transfer, said deputy director Mai Ba Hung. The department and the city’s football federation are in charge of solving Navibank Saigon’s crisis, as it has called for their help to be transferred to the federation after Navibank announced that it would stop sponsoring the club. But Hung said he is interested in the scenario in which the city will have SGXT as a club that gathers a handful of local football stars. “SGXT is already full of stars, and the five additions from Navibank Saigon may help strengthen the club and enable HCMC football to regain its glory,” he said. SGXT will be competing in three arenas in the 2013 seasons:the country’s top-flight V-League, the National Cup, and the AFC Cup.